The soul fragment was the same woman whom Jing Huaci had seen at the foot of the silver peak. Instead of Empress Timelightâs soul remnant, she was a mere fake.
Now standing in the grandly lavish Myriad Returns City, she glared at Lu Yun with icy eyes. Though Empress Timelightâs inner demon had severed her connection to the Timelight Tower, she displayed no trace of fear.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Heavy footsteps traveled ever closer; the fearsome crystal giant had already entered Myriad Returns City.
Miao paled slightly. âSo it seems something terrifying was born in the tomb while I wasnât paying attention.â
With a solemn gaze, she observed the giant as she waved her hand and transformed Myriad Returns City into a giant maze. The entire world became a vast expanse of labyrinthine whiteness that swallowed the impostor.
All the same, Lu Yun could still feel her eyes pierce through the many layers of space and fall squarely on him, so much so that he could feel physical pain on his skin.
âI canât stop this monster. Hurry up and think of a solution!â Miao floated to his side as if out of habit, her fluffy tail winding around his arm like a puffed up balloon.
Lu Yun smacked his forehead. âArenât you the Monster Celestial Master? Sheâs just an impostor and a soul fragment, canât you bring her to heel?â
The oppressive feeling coming from the giant high above was a little hard for him to bear.
âThis is all your fault. Who told you to wake me up?â Miao shot him a scathing glare. âIf Iâd stayed asleep inside the resurrection formation, it wouldnât have taken long for me to revive and rule over everything inside this tomb. But you just had to go and wake me up from my dream, so Iâve yet to recover.â
Lu Yun scratched his head, slightly embarrassed. Miao had been a mere true immortal back when sheâd woken up, one that couldnât even take human form.
Though he didnât understand how she could possibly be here, her current self had certainly reached an unfathomable realm. At the very least, she wasnât any weaker than the impostor.
âDidnât you just use the Timelight Tower to reverse time and bring me back from the brink of death?â Lu Yun smiled wryly.
âThe tower is Empress Timelightâs treasure. It was the empress herself who saved you,â Miao snapped back, her complexion set in a grimace.
Waves of destruction crashed upon her Myriad Returns City. As an art that could create something from nothing, it wasnât an exaggeration to label Return to Origin the greatest art of the current age.
However, the crystal monster was so formidable that its strength was infinitely close to the great formationâs limits. More importantly, the soul fragment was still present. For some unfathomable reason, sheâd managed to turn Empress Timelightâs soul into an internal demon and take her place, clear evidence of her abilities.
The combination of soul and crystal monster could easily destroy Myriad Returns City.
âEmpress Timelight herself? The inner demon?â Lu Yun gasped in shock.
Heâd been positive that the Monster Celestial Master had been the one whoâd secretly deployed the Timelight Towerâs power, but as it turned out, it was the inner demon!
But at this moment, that very inner demon was a stream of dark light winding around Lu Yun and Jing Huaci, cutting off the impostor from the Timelight Tower.
âTake her with you and leave!â Lu Yun suddenly opened his eyes wide and handed Jing Huaci to Miao.
âYou want me to take the little dragon away? What about you then?â Miao blinked.
âI have my own ways to escape, of course. The Timelight Tower and Jing Huaciâs physical body are the only things the soulâs after. So if you take them away, itâll naturally follow you!â Lu Yun whispered. âThis is your own tomb, your home turf. Donât tell me you canât run away in your own backyard.â
âYouâre right⌠I canât beat these two things, but getting away wonât be a problem.â Miao smiled a little sheepishly, then remembered something and turned stern. âMy main bodyâs still in Dusk City. The me you see right now is but a dream, and I wonât remember anything when I wake up. So keep in mind to never, ever mention anything that happened here when you return. Otherwise, the moment I recover my memories, Xing Mou and Liu Qingmiao will return to my main self, and all my arrangements will have been for naught!â
Lu Yun froze. âAre you saying that youâd planned to split your soul all the way back in the Primordial Era?â
âCorrect!â Maio exclaimed. âThe immortal court needed the Monster Celestial Master, the primordial monster spirits needed their ancestor, and the primeval monster spirits needed a monster emperor!â
âWere you the reigning monster emperor before Emperors Fall?â Lu Yun gawked.
âI wasnât... But after that period of time, on the eve of the multiverseâs most magnificent era, the opportunity to become a true emperor was right in front of me. How could I not seize it? In this lifetime, I wanted to sit on an imperial throne at least once!â
Boom! Crash!!
The moment Miaoâs voice fell, another explosive rumble sounded from Myriad Returns City as the giantâs enormous head broke through multiple layers of formations and peered out from the void.
âHurry up and leave!â Lu Yun started violently when he saw the impostor standing on the monsterâs head. He immediately threw Jing Huaci to Miao and disappeared from sight.
âGone?â Miao started. Her consciousness had unexpectedly lost his trail. âWell, isnât it bold of you to impersonate an empress from when the emperors fell⌠That title is quite an ominous one, after all.â
Seeing Lu Yun depart, she held Jing Huaci tightly but didnât move to leave herself. Instead, her face gradually turned transparent. Gust by gust, an evil wind started blowing inside the minor world.
âWhat in the heavens are you?â Standing on top of the monsterâs head, the damaged soul froze when she sensed the change. There was even a hint of fear discernible on her face!
âHeheheheheââ Miaoâs silhouette disappeared from sight, while the badly-battered Myriad Returns City began restructuring itself.
Instead of its former atmosphere of opulence, the entire city turned an inky black. One by one, evil ghosts crawled out of the city. A ghost cityâMyriad Returns City had become a ghost city!
As for Miao, her figure turned increasingly spectral, evil winds swirling around her figure and her extraordinarily handsome face now suffused with wickedness.
Sizzle!
Two balls of ghostly fire suddenly flickered to life in her eyes.
âŚâŚ
Inside the lungsâ layout, Lu Yun heaved a long sigh of relief.
âI canât go back to hell, for now, but at least I can transform into gaseous sand and be immediately collected by the lungsâ layout.â He stood up to once again size up the peculiar layout.
âSure enough, a true pair of lungs of heaven and earth mustâve been born in this place at some time. Itâs on another level altogether, compared to the one Xing Chen refined, but someone mustâve taken it.
âAnyway, the palace built by the soul fragment is realâŚ. I should be able to infiltrate that place from here.â With a flip of the hand, the feng shui compass and Treasurefall Coin appeared in his palm.
etvolare's Thoughts
Here we have another major time point being identified: Emperors Fall.